


Beneath the Waves

by Onehelluvapilot



Series: Camelove [6]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Afterlife, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Love, Love Confessions, Minor Lancelot/Merlin (Merlin), Short & Sweet, the lake of avalon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29402607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot
Summary: Will and Freya live together under the lake and fall in love
Relationships: Freya/Will (Merlin)
Series: Camelove [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2151081
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7
Collections: Camelove 2021, Merlin Bingo





	Beneath the Waves

Merlin may have been the first person Freya fell in love with, but Will was her first real relationship. And while her few days with the warlock had been fraught with fear and death as well as wonder, her infinite time beneath the waves with his best friend was filled with fun and joy.

As Lady of the Lake, she could see through, and even occasionally manifest herself in, any body of water, so the two of them could check up on Merlin. Watching their mutual friend, and the person responsible for both of their after-lives, through his drinking glass became a bonding experience. Will, who had been alone under the water for a year before Freya arrived, found it particularly reassuring to see that his childhood best friend was still alive and relatively well in Camelot. He told the druid girl all kinds of stories about the two of them in Ealdor. Though she loved to hear about Merlin, and especially his magic that featured in a few stories, she found herself more fascinated by Will's sense of humor and admiring the pranks he had pulled in his life. Once they saw Lancelot arrive back in Camelot and realized Merlin finally had the support he needed, Will pulled her away from the scrying pool to go live their own afterlives instead of spying on him so much. 

Today they lay in bed, the lake bed, that was, hand in hand. Sometimes they passed the time playing small pranks on Arthur and the knights of Camelot with water, such as replacing their wine or grabbing onto their cloaks if they had to wade through a stream, but these opportunities didn't present themselves often, so they had a lot of downtime. Most of this was spent swimming through the reeds with the fish or just watching the world. Most of it was spent together, as well.

"I wish I'd known you when we were alive," Will said softly as the water washed over and through them. Neither person was entirely corporeal, but he had more of a form than her. It made sense; as Lady of the Lake, what little essence she had was spread out through all the water, while he was just a tenant of Avalon instead of part of it. "I'm sure you were beautiful."

"I'm not now?" She asked, her voice sounding far away but also right there, and just immensely sad.

"That's not what I meant," Will quickly reassured her, rolling over to look at her. Her eyes were the blue of the sky reflected on water, her hair floated far into the current, and her heart pulsed with the tempo of waves on the shore. "Of course you're beautiful now. I only meant that I would have liked to have known you when we were human, so I could better appreciate your beauty without some of it drifting off in the waves."

"Why are you being so sweet today?" Freya asked.

"I just…" Will trailed off. "I'm not… good, at expressing what I feel, and I barely had time to tell Merlin I loved him, and even though this time I know I can't die and leave you, I don't want to wait to tell you I love you."

"You love me?"

"Of course I do."

Freya was kind and beautiful, especially when she smiled, but it was her bravery that Will loved the most. From what little she had told him of her life, she had been through a lot of trauma, and it showed. In the beginning she had been terrified of him, but the very first time they met, before she'd had any time to come to terms with her own death, he'd watched her square her thin shoulders before asking about him. Who he was and how long he'd been there and if he was okay. She reminded him so much of Merlin from the very beginning, always so selfless and compassionate. 

Even though one didn't often get the chance to improve themselves after their death, Freya seemed to strive to grow stronger, healthier, and happier everyday. She worked out with Will, swimming laps around the lake, doing pushups as best they could, and carrying stones from one place to another along the lakebed. He didn't tell her that they were for the house he planned to make for them, but in a clear effort to be more open,  _ she _ did confess her motives behind lifting rocks with him. Though she was beyond elated that the curse of the bastet had been broken by her death and that she wasn't forced to turn into a watered-down panther every night, she said she missed the strength that had come with it. She didn't want to be helpless anymore.

As he got to know her better as well, Will began to recognize the signs of her being nervous and uncomfortable. She bit her lip and her hands clenched in her red dress, and sometimes she grew a little more incorporeal. At first, he'd always offered that they could stop what they were doing, whether it was just cuddling or something more adventurous, like swimming further up one of the tributary streams of Avalon further than they normally went. Freya always shook her head though, explaining that she wanted to get out of her comfort zone a little. Her bravery and drive for self-improvement was the most extraordinary thing about her, not the fact that she was magic and part lake. How could he not love her when she inspired him to be better every day?

"Oh. I love you too," Freya replied, as if loving him were the most natural thing in the world. Will was almost caught off guard by that; so few people had ever loved him. 

"Yeah?" He asked, and to his embarrassment his voice came out shaky and unsure.

"Yes. I love you a lot." 

Freya loved the little pranks Will came up with, especially since they were almost always either playful or kind, never designed to hurt anyone. In fact, they were often quite the opposite, like when he suggested drenching Sir Lancelot in a stream on patrol, but only when Merlin was there to look after him and warm him up with body heat as well as magic. That little prank gave the two men the push they needed to start courting, and it made both them and two watchers under the lake so happy.

Freya also loved Will's respect for her and her boundaries. Even though he had been alone for a year before she arrived and was incredibly lonely and in desperate need of a hug, he didn't pressure her for one in the slightest. The druid girl had had rather more bad experiences with touch in her life than good ones, so he waited until she felt safe enough before so much as offering his hand for her to hold. At her request, he'd even completely stopped yelling, and only slipped up when Arthur or Kilgarrah said something particularly stupid and he just had to rant about it, even though Merlin couldn't hear him. Freya floated away whenever that happened, and when she came back, he always apologized for raising his voice, even though it was never directed at her.

And now that they did know and trust each other, Freya loved the feeling of his strong arms around her. They kept her from just dissolving into the water, sometimes, when she didn't feel like a real girl. She felt safe in his arms.

Will wrapped one hand around her lower back now, gently pulling her closer to him. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and she tilted her head up to bestow one upon his lips.


End file.
